Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift

'Tis me again, another boring review, yes, I know... but EB had a sale on and I wanted a new game. So I bought this one, as far as the definition of new can be stretched.

This one bears a marked resemblance to Revenant Wings - to the point where Vaan and Penelo actually make an appearance! I've only played the GBA tactics version and really, this isn't different at all. Sure, the option is open to use the touch screen, but this really doesn't make the full use of it the way that FFXII:RW did.

It really is your basic, turn-based strategy game; you have a clan full of variously clad party member options and each "job" (because that's what we call classes these days) has -mostly- unique qualities and moves. Black Mages use the traditional fire, blizzard and thunder combination, White Mages do the usual healing jobs; then there's your melee classes/jobs like Gladiator, Fighter, Soldier, Berserker, White Monk, etc. I could go on, but you get the picture.

Most quests you can dispatch a party to (cheat's way of getting through the MASSIVE amount of jobs on offer quickly). But as well as the main storyline quests, there will be a few that you can't dispatch. Usually, there will be a reason for this - a new job on offer (take Veis, Assasin, for example, or the long-running feud between the Bangaa Brotherhood and the Nu Mou Nobles) or a particular item that is both functional and useful. Either way, you'll have to lead the charge yourself on these occasions.

In any one of these bouts, the rules are usually the same: follow the laws the judges hand down, or you'll be refused re-entry into battle if one of your party members falls to a foe. That means no use of Phoenix Down or Raise on anything that currently calls your clan host. You can, however, still use these moves/items on the undead. Go figure. If it were up to me, I would rather have had the law-breaker unable to re-enter battle, or disabled. Affecting the WHOLE clan is a bit much.

All in all, it's a very well structured game, the bones of which carried over in Revenant Wings. It's not boring or dragging, but the combat can be a bit samey, which is the real drawback in this case. Still, if you are anything like the perfectionist I am, you'll be searching all over to find all the job classes.

Verdict: A great time-waster if you have a few weeks free.

Pnuemonia and old games

Well, as most of my friends and minions know, I've been stuck in the house for the last three weeks at my doctor's behest in order to recover from a particularly nasty bout of pnuemonia. Those of you who haven't had it, you don't want it and those that have... well, you can share my pain. I'm starting to feel like a human pin cushion with the amount of blood tests I've had and all they can tell me is that my white blood cell count is up and that my lungs still sound a bit rattly. Gee, really. I wouldn't have expected that from a lung infection.

In other news, all this time being made to rest has forced me to replay some of my old games. Sadly, there are parts of my Kingdom Hearts II games that won't load properly - sad face - so therefore I went back to play Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings for the DS.

It must be said that I quite liked this game, hence why it wasn't traded in. The strategic nature appealed to me, along with the ability to constantly summon Yarhi/Espers. The storyline was quite acceptable and I found myself warming up to Llyud, the first Aegyl you meet in-game. I'm a bit neurotic with games, so I've had to try and finish every mission, summoning melee, monster melee and all-out brawl. This has led to my party having some pretty tricked-out gear that has better stats than the stuff they came with (example, Bathier comes equipped with Rygel, his gun. Crafting one with Cu Sith, however, boosts most of his stats +10, so what's the point in keeping the old one?).

The other game I restarted is Viva Pinata: Pocket Paradise. Yes, yes, I know I bought it around this time last year, so technically it's not all that old for me, but the Viva Pinata game itself is old, therefore it counts. This time round, it seems to have lost a lot of the fun for me. I don't know why, but maybe it's just one of those games that you absolutely love the first time round but the second... you forget what you saw in it in the first place.

Completely off-topic, today is Johnny Depp's birthday, so happy birthday to you, sir! Funnily enough, I was reading a topic over at the escapist forums and found a nifty little video clip starring said handsome actor that I'd never seen before (and for those of you complaining that Johnny Depp has nothing to do with video games, I have one thing to say to you: The Legend of Jack Sparrow. Ha).

Oh... and happy birthday to Karl Urban for yesterday. The gorgeous kiwi is now 38. I watched reboot!Trek in his honour. ^_^